Remove the Shades, Mr Strider
by JustDrinkTea
Summary: You trust John. A lot. But you're not sure you can do it- how could you possibly reveal what's behind your shades? They hold too much. They're too vulnerable. JohnDave, pepsicola, hammertime


John lays sprawled out on your bed, clad in nothing but a pair of blue plaid pajama pants. Even his glasses had been removed and placed on the nightstand nearby. "Dave, oh my god," he whines. "I just want to go to sleep already. You're soooooooo sloooooooow."

"Calm your tits, will you?" you reply, slipping out of your jeans. You toss them over in a corner somewhere. Your shirt soon joins it. So you like to sleep in your boxers, what's the big deal? "Jesus, you're like a never-ending abyss of impatience."

He glares at you. "I am tired."

"Yeah, yeah. And you're grumpy, too." You hit the lights and the room is instantly flooded in darkness. And thanks to the clouds out tonight, there aren't even any moonlight to shine through your blinds. It's completely dark. Just the way you like it.

Only when the light is off do you remove your shades. If your eyes are even going to think about adjusting to the darkness, there's no way you can leave them on. And aside from that, sleeping in sunglasses is an absurd move, even for you.

You stumble slowly from one side of the room to the other, careful not to trip over any cords or anything that might be laying around. You make it successfully to the bed and take a seat, folding your glasses and setting them next to what resembles the shape of John's eyewear.

You stretch a bit and lay down next to John, not bothering to gather any blankets around you; it's too hot for that tonight.

"Was that really necessary?" John asks, speaking up suddenly.

You had pretty much chalked up his lack of complaints the last five minutes due to slumber. But as it turns out, he hadn't fallen asleep like you originally thought. "Was what really necessary?" you reply, genuinely confused. "I mean I'm sure it did. I don't do much without purpose, you know."

"Yeah, half the time those "purposes" are really lame."

"Oh shut up."

"But seriously. You could've just taken off your shades _before_ you turned off the light." You hear him shift a bit. "I know you're hiding them from me- your eyes I mean."

You're silent for a few seconds. "I just didn't think about it, dude."

"Dave."

"I mean, it's not like I'm hiding anything from you. That would be awkward, don't you think?"

"_Dave_."

"Why would I-"

"_DAVE_."

You shut up. It is not an easy task to get you to stop talking, but somehow John usually manages. Or at least he manages more than the average person does. Which is still saying a lot.

"Look, you don't have to show me if you don't want to," John continued, his voice lowered now that he has your attention. "But you don't have to be so sneaky about it all the time. It's kind of… well… it doesn't make me feel very good, let's put it at that."

You're silent. This is a tricky situation. You trust John. A lot. A whole fucking lot. And he makes you feel like you're lighter than air. He's one of the best things that's ever happened to you, to say the least.

But even still, you're not sure you can do it. It's not just because you're eyes are freaky red- because let's face it, they are pretty freaky. John already knows about the bright rouge irises and that they're easily irritated and sensitive to light, and all those problems you wish you didn't have.

It's all the emotions.

Bro never had to train your eyes to be hard, cold, unfeeling; the shades do that no problem. But because you've never had to guard the emotions from reaching that part of your face. They're vulnerable. They hold everything.

That's not something you're too eager to be showing off.

But still….

"Tomorrow," you mutter quietly under your breath.

You hear him move more and sit up behind you. "What?"

You inhale deeply through your nose. "I said tomorrow. What are you- deaf? I'll show you tomorrow if it's such a big deal." You're doing a better job of keeping your flow than you expected.

"Dave, I said that-"

"My mind's made up, John." You curl onto your side.

He's quiet. After a few moments of silence, he moves back to lay down, wrapping his arms around you. "Okay, Dave."

In a few minutes, you can feel his breathing slow against your back. He's fallen asleep. You turn over, slowly and carefully so as not to wake him, watching his sleeping figure until you, too fall asleep.

As always, you're the first one awake. Your legs are tangled with John's, an arm thrown over him sloppily. Cautiously, you move your arm over, swinging it over to grope around for your glasses.

You slide them back onto your face, feeling more comfortable with them than without them.

You haven't forgotten about last night, but you want to make sure that you execute this properly. It's a big thing for you, after all. This isn't something to be taken lightly. John knows that. You know that.

John wakes up maybe a half hour after you do. He seems disappointed at first that you're wearing your sunglasses, but he doesn't bring up your conversation last night. It's hard to tell if he's avoiding the subject, or if he's hoping you forgot. Either way, he doesn't say a word and just smiles sleepily at you.

You sit up and his eyes follow after you, watching you curiously. You motion for him to join you and he does, realizing that you, in fact, did not forget the previous conversation.

"There isn't too much sunlight coming in here, right?" you ask, double checking.

John glances to the sole window in the room before returning his gaze to you. He shakes his head.

You nod in response and move to take them off. Your fingers settle on the plastic arms of the shades. You hesitate. Your arms freeze in place and then drop back down to your sides.

You let out a breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding, your eyes wandering up to John's.

He's watching you, waiting, but not impatiently. He understands.

"I want you to do it," you say, quieter than you mean to.

He hears you anyway. "Are you sure?" he asks, leaning forward just a bit as he does.

You nod.

John returns your nod and scooches forward. Slowly, he reaches up and takes the plastic in his hands. Even slower still, he slides them off, pulling them down off your ears and nose.

"Dave, it's okay," he says. "You can look at me."

You've closed your eyes.

"Dave."

You feel a hand on your cheek. Taking another deep breath you squeeze them shut tighter, only to relax one eyelid, slowly peeking out to test the lighting.

John was right- it's not that bright.

Feeling more confident, you open up the other eye, blinking a few times as you do. You glance around the room, avoiding eye contact with John until you know you can't avoid it any longer.

He's got the sincerest smile on his face, his eyes searching yours. They take in every detail, every emotion you've ever hidden. You're sure there's a lot to take in. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but then closes it again.

You wish he would say something. Because for once in your life, you don't have the words.

He gapes like a fish for a short while- trying to find his own words. Then after what seems like forever, he finally manages to make a sound. "Thanks," he breathes softly. He takes you into the biggest bear hug he can manage with his scrawny arms and moves to press a short kiss to your lips. "Thank you," he repeats, "for trusting me, Dave."

**Notes:** I'm sorry I just had feels I needed to get out of my system.


End file.
